Explore the Heart
by Kao1214
Summary: Shadows are falling throughout the land, and caught in the middle of it all are three friends: a gallade, a gardevoir, and a lucario. Sides are taken, lines are drawn, and exploration and romance permeate everything. Part one of the darkness falls trilogy
1. Chapter 1: Reunited

Author's note: I don't know if this is required or not, but I don't own Pokemon in any way

**Author's note:** I don't know if this is required or not, but I don't own Pokemon in any way. It is solely Nintendo's and I own it in no way whatsoever. Now that that's over with, on to the good stuff. This is my second fanfic thingy, about Pokemon. It's supposed to be sort of like the mystery dungeon games, where Pokemon are sentient and live their own personal lives. Except that in this story, it's a whole lot more human and civilized, as in the main characters are teenage Pokemon currently attending their junior year of high school. And of course, at that age, puberty is at its peak and each character must through their own personal epiphany. It mainly centers around a coupling I made up myself of Gallevoir, Gallade and Gardevoir. Enjoy and please review after reading!

Chapter 1: Reunited

Lance sat on the front steps of his house, hands clasped under his chin, elbows on his knees. It was misty this morning, almost impossible to see through the impending fog. The bus must have been caught right in the middle of it; it would explain why it was running so late this morning. Lance sighed to himself and stood up, dropping his school books onto the steps and extending his elbow blades. There was no reason why he couldn't practice his training while he waited. He was a Gallade, tall for his young age and fit. He was currently waiting for the bus that would take him to his high school. He was bored. He slowly lowered himself into a fighter's stance, holding his blades in front of him ready for use. He flashed through all of the various combat methods he had taught himself over the summer and chose one randomly. Taking slow, deep breathes, he began to slowly walk forward, flicking his blades out at imaginary foes and blocking imaginary blows. He began speeding up, slashing out more often and spinning to avoid the imaginary blows. He continued to speed up until he was simply a flurry of flying blades, impossible to touch. He ended the tirade with a jump into the air, bringing down his right blade on the head of the leader of his imagined enemies. It stabbed deep into the earth, and he kept that pose for a few seconds, savoring the flow of adrenaline. Then he yanked it out of the ground and stood back up. He brushed off his knees and let out a deep breath. Smiling, he walked back over to the steps and picked up his books. He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of an engine and saw the twin headlights of the school bus piercing through the fog. He straightened himself and walked to the edge of the yard, halting at the curb. The bus rattled to a stop and the doors swung open. His smile turned into a grin as he saw the Shiftry sitting at the steering wheel. Lance walked up the steps and stopped in front of the Shiftry. He turned to look at Lance and gave off a gruff,

"Yeah?" Lance laughed out loud and replied

"Good to see you Jim, have a good summer?"

"Vacation sucked and school started up to soon. Same as usual." Jim replied, turning his gaze back to the road ahead, moving on to the next stop. Lance laughed again and began searching for a seat on the crowded bus. It was the first day of the school year, so the bus was packed to almost its maximum capacity. After a bit of searching, he found a seat in the back.

_Great. The bumpiest part of this trash can. _He thought to himself as he sat down. He took up a position leaning against the side of the bus and stared out the window, thinking about the possibilities this year could bring.

The bus pulled to a stop in front of the school, and the doors swung open.

"See ya Jim!" Lance called as he walked down the steps.

"Just get off my bus kid." The Shiftry muttered as Lance swung off the bus. He took a few steps forward as the bus pulled away and looked up at the school in front of him. He grimaced and shook his head. The school was a flat featureless building on a low hill. There were almost no windows visible on the front, and those you could see were half a foot by one foot. Lance had thought it looked like a prison since he saw it for the first time. It even had chain-link fence surrounding the hill. He heaved a sigh.

"So begins another year of hell." he muttered and began to walk toward the steps leading up the hill. He was almost to the base of the stairs when a voice called out behind him.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyy!" he started to turn at the call but was suddenly hit by something in the back. He felt arms wrap around his neck and something land on his back. He instantly tensed, ready for a fight, but then he saw the smiling face of a Gardevoir swing over his shoulder to rest on it. "Hey Lancey, long time no see, eh?"

"Ow, jeez, Serena! Get off!" his adrenaline from the supposed attack was fading, and he was starting to realize how hard supporting her weight was. With a grunt, he collapsed under her. Serena looked down at him from her perch on top of his back while he lay sprawled on the ground on his stomach.

"Well that was great!" she laughed.

"Could you please get off me?" He mumbled, face against the ground.

"Good to see you too." She laughed as she stood up, brushing off her long white dress. Grumbling to himself, Lance got up to one knee, but stopped to look up at another voice.

"Jeez, Serena, isn't it a little soon in the year to be beating on Lance already?" said a deep voice. A Lucario stood with his arms crossed, staring at both of them with one eyebrow cocked. Serena's eyes lit up at the sight of him and she ran forward to grab him in a tight embrace.

"Luke! You're back!" she exclaimed into his shoulder. The Lucario broke out into a grin and smiled down at her, hugging her back.

"Yup, it was too boring over in Kanto without you guys." He said, patting her back. He switched his gaze over to Lance, who was still kneeling on the ground. "What, you too grown up to give your best friend a man hug?" he laughed, flashing his smile again. Lance, unable to believe his eyes, slowly stood up. He stared for a few seconds longer, and then broke into his own smile. Luke, along with Serena, had been one of Lance's friends since he was a child. They had done everything together as a trio, until three years ago, when Luke's family had moved from Sinnoh to Kanto. He had been devastated when he heard the news from Luke himself. After he had gone, Lance and Serena had leaned on each other for support and had grown closer together as a result. They never forgot about Luke, but they managed to move on. Seeing him here now was one of the greatest moments of Lance's life. Luke gently broke his embrace with Serena and walked over to Lance. "Come on, still remember our old handshake?" Luke asked holding out one of his paws, spike up.

"Heck yeah!" Lance replied, extending one of his elbow blades and swinging it through the air to smash into Luke's paw spike. Sparks flew into the air as they met, then Lance whipped up his other blade as Luke swung his other paw towards him. They met again, and sparks cascaded. Then they both clasped hands. They broke apart their hands and smiled.

"I'm here too, you know." A younger voice said. Serena got excited again over the sight of a Riolu standing where Luke had been with his paws on his hips.

"Ryan! You're here too!" she exclaimed, and ran forward again to pick up the younger Pokemon in a tight embrace.

"Whoa, Serena! Come on!" Ryan complained as she carried him over to the others, a smile still on her face. With one more squeeze, she set him down next to Luke and surveyed both of them.

"God it's good to see you two again." She sobbed, running forward to hug them both again. "Oh man, I'm crying?" she gave a watery laugh. "I just thought we'd never see either of you again!" she sobbed again. Lance gave a sympathetic smile toward her; he was feeling just as emotional. Ryan was Luke's younger brother. He had been in Kanto with the rest of his family. He had been just as hard to see go, because he had accompanied them on some of the group's outings and was just as much a friend.

"It's okay, just let it out," Luke soothed, patting Serena's back. She broke out of the hug and wiped her eyes.

"Does this mean you guys are back for good?" she asked.

"So far as we know, we haven't been told of a departure date set for any upcoming years," Luke said, smiling still. "We're even coming back to school."

"You're going to school with us too?" Lance exclaimed, not believing their luck. Suddenly, above them, the warning bell rang out. "Shit, we better got going," Lance said again. They all began running up the stairs.

"Hey, do either of you know if Shannon still goes here...?" Luke trailed off and stared at them hopefully.

"You still have a crush on that Lopunny? Oh my God! I can't believe you Luke!" Serena exclaimed, staring at him incredulously.

"Hey, it's not my fault she's so hot!" Luke laughed. The others picked up on the laughter, and ran together into the school.

**Ending note: **So that's the first part of this story done. It may not seem like a lot happened here, but it sets stuff up for later on in the story. Stay tuned, I'm gonna try to post new chapters every Friday, with a week or two in between. Keep reading, and spread the news of the awesome new fanfic!


	2. Chapter 2: Changes

**Author's note: **So this is the second chapter of Explore the Heart. Can't guarantee too much about this chapter. Just expect to find a whole bunch of trials and romance among leading characters. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Changes

Lance stared at the clock mounted on the wall. Time seemed to be slowed down today, the second hand taking its sweet time to circle the clock face. He let out a muffled groan and lay his head down on his desk. This class had been going on forever. Lance had seen boring teachers before, but this Slowking took the cake. He had been drawling on for what seemed like hours in his low gravelly voice, almost impossible to hear. Now he sat hunched over his desk at the front of the class discussing what he would be teaching this year. No one was listening. Lance lifted his head back up to look at the clock. Half a minute had passed.

"Oh God," he muttered, banging his head on the desk again. He turned his head to see Serena sitting at the desk next to him, idly doodling on her desk. She sighed and slumped lower in her desk. Lance looked to the other side to see Luke next to him. He was reading a folded up piece of paper, probably a note from someone else. He let out a muted laugh and scribbled something onto the paper. Then he looked up at the teacher and flicked the folded up paper to the desk behind him. Lance turned his head to see who he had given it to, and smiled when he saw that it was Shannon, the Lopunny. She had struck up a conversation with him at the beginning of the class after the teacher had introduced him to everyone. Luke had had a crush on her since middle school, and now it looked like he was finally going to get her, judging by the way Lance had seen her laugh and look at him. He turned back forward and looked at the clock again. Five minutes to go. He banged his head again.

"Oh ho, what's this?" Lance laughed grabbing the envelope taped to Serena's locker.

"I don't know, but whatever it is it's mine!" she snapped, snatching it back from him. Class had finally ended and they were at a locker break now. Lance had gotten a locker across the hall from Serena's, so he had walked with her to it. When they had gotten to it, they had been greeted by a pink envelope taped to the front of the locker emblazoned with a large heart. 'Serena' had been written- no, typed, Serena saw- across the middle of the heart. "Oh boy," she muttered. She flipped it over and slit the tape holding it closed with one of her fingers. She pulled out two pieces of paper, one was pink and flower printed stationary, the other a picture. There was writing on the stationary, and she read aloud: '_Serena, I'm not the best at this kind of stuff. I've been watching you for a long time, and think you are beautiful. Your form is lovely, and I can't help blushing at the sight of you. I would be honored if you would meet me for dinner at that restaurant down the street. Your admirer, Rick.' _

"Hah! Well look at that, you've got yourself a regular old stalker." Lance laughed, while Serena grimaced down at the letter. She took a look at the picture and let out a gasp of embarrassment. Depicted in the picture was a Hitmonlee, standing in a half-hearted Karate Kid pose. At the sight of this, Lance erupted into laughter, holding his sides and gasping for breath between peals of laughter. Serena stared down at the picture in disbelief, eyes wide.

"Oh my God, he _is _stalking me." She said. She looked around to see a Hitmonlee staring at her by his locker. He noticed her looking at him and jerked the locker door in front of his face, hiding.

"Wow, what are you going to do?" Lance gasped after he was through laughing.

"I'm certainly not going to accept," Serena said, stuffing the letter and picture back into the envelope and thrusting it into her locker. "How am I going to tell him no without hurting him?" she said.

"I don't know, I would just pretend I didn't get the letter." Lance said.

"I can't do that, he saw me reading it!" Serena exclaimed.

"Well the bell's about to ring, so think about it later." Lance advised.

"Ah, whatever. Let's go." Serena sighed, slamming her locker closed.

"Guys, I have to talk to you." Luke said, sitting down at the table and putting down his tray. It was Lunch, surprisingly late in the day. Lance and Serena looked up as Luke sat down.

"Yeah?" Lance asked. Luke let out a deep breath.

"I have a date with Shannon tonight." He said smiling broadly. Lance raised his eyebrows in admiration and Serena gasped.

"Tonight? Nice job Luke! Where are you guys going?" she asked.

"We're going to see a movie." He exclaimed. He laughed and sagged back in his chair, smiling at the ceiling.

"Wow, you just got back from Kanto, and you're already gettin' busy." Lance joked, nudging him with his elbow.

"Don't I know it." Luke sighed, sitting back up. "But I need you guy's advice for what to do." This was Serena's home grounds. She leaned forward to place her arms on the table.

"Well here's what you need to do," she began. Lance laughed and lounged back in his chair, putting an elbow on the back.

Lance smiled, and took a deep breath of fresh air as he stepped out of the school. The day was finally over. He let out a laugh of exhilaration and jumped down the short flight of stairs at the front of the school. He spun around to see Serena following him, smiling too. Coming a little later, amidst the crowd of students, came Luke, chatting with Shannon, his new girlfriend.

"Hey guys, we're headed on to our date," Luke said when he got down to them. "See you later!" He said, waving as they continued walking down the street together. Serena walked up beside Lance, watching them go.

"They seem happy together, I hope they last." She said to Lance. He nodded, then turned to look at the carpool lane.

"Hey, isn't that your mom?" he asked, pointing at a car.

"Oh, it is," Serena said, looking surprised. "I guess since it's the first day she decided to pick me up. Bye, I guess," she said, waving to Lance as she walked down to her car. As she walked, Lance couldn't help watching her dress trailing over the ground. He raised his head, surveying the rest of her body. He shook his head briskly. Why was he staring at her? He shrugged and hefted his backpack into a better position on his shoulder. He walked home from school, but why not take his time; it didn't matter when he got home. He turned toward the school's football field and began walking toward it. He walked slowly across the grass, looking up at all the stands. What was it like to be a football player, to be admired by everyone in the school? Maybe he would try out for the team this year. He ducked underneath the back of one of the stands to take a shortcut back to the front of the school. He froze when he saw he wasn't the only one under here. A group of Smeargles was lounging on the ground. Empty expressions occupied most of their faces, and one turned to look at Lance. Lance's eyes widened in alarm at the sight of a joint held in the Smeargle's hand, looking around he could see every single one held a joint, and a haze of smoke hung above their heads. One was painting the image of a 'Magic Mushroom' on the ground with his tail. The one that was looking at Lance slowly raised a hand and nudged the Smeargle next to him.

"Hey, we got comp'ny." He said sluggishly. The other one turned his head to look at Lance too. He broke out into a stoned smile and said,

"Hey, you come down here to buy some weed?" he held out his own joint and shook it slightly.

"No. I don't do that kind of stuff." Lance said coldly. He turned to leave but stopped as the same one called out.

"Awww, come on! You know you want to!" Lance spun around angrily to see the Smeargle still smiling stupidly and holding out his joint. Lance started to shout something when another Smeargle spoke.

"Hey, hey! Lay off, bro. If the dude don't wanna, he don't haveta." He said, staring blankly at Lance. He got unsteadily to his feet and stumbled over to Lance. "But just in case you ever feel down," he slurred, rummaging in his pocket and pulling out another joint, "and you need a… a… pick-me-up," He said, waving the joint aimlessly around in circles, "take this, free of charge." He finished, swaying side to side and holding out the joint to Lance. Lance simply glared at him, not moving. The Smeargle smile wider and leaned forward to gently push the pot into Lance's pants pocket. He tapped it down into the depths of the pocket, then took a pull on his own joint and laid back down. Lance glared at the bulge in his pocket, then at the Smeargles. He shook his head in pity, then turned and walked away.

"Hey man, was that a smart thing to do? Giving away one of your private stash and not even charging him?" the first Smeargle struggled to say through his high.

"Relax dude. He'll be back." The Smeargle replied, talking another pull on his joint.

Lance lay on his bed, thinking about all that had happened today. He had forgotten about his confrontation with the addict Smeargles under the stands shortly after arriving back home. He ran through all that happened throughout the day, stopping when he got to Serena receiving the love-letter. He laughed in spite off himself. He still can't believe that Serena had a Hitmonlee stalking her. She deserved someone who would give her what she wanted. She deserved a real boyfriend. And he deserved a real girlfriend. They had known each other since they were kids, what if it was something more than friendship…

"No! She is just my friend. I am not going to ruin our relationship by doing something stupid like asking her out." He said out loud, hating himself for thinking those thoughts. He drove her out of his head and continued going through the day's events. He came to Luke and Shannon, and he smiled. They were good together, and looked happy.

_I hope they last. _He thought to himself. _I bet Serena and I could last forever-_

"No! Stop thinking about her!" Lance hissed to himself through gritted teeth.

_I bet she's a good kisser. And man is she hot._

"Shut up!" Lance yelled.

_Come on. You know you want her._

Lance sat up and stuck his head between his knees.

"Damn it!" he yelled in frustration. He continued to deny his thoughts, but eventually he broke down and agreed with them. Tears began leaking from beneath his eyelids at that realization. "Damn damn damn," he sobbed, rocking back and forth. He needed to forget about her. He needed to forget the way he felt when he looked at her. He needed to forget about it all. He stopped rocking back and forth and stared straight ahead in shock. He slowly reached into his pocket and brought out the joint the Smeargle had given him. It was slightly crumpled, but otherwise unharmed. He placed a hand over his mouth and stared at it, thoughts racing. He shuddered, and then placed it on the bed. He got up and shakily walked over to his chest of drawers. He opened up one of the drawers and began rummaging through the contents. Where was it, he knew it was here. He kept all of the black out supplies here- he stopped as he saw the book of matches laying at the bottom of the drawer. He slowly picked it up and tentatively flipped it open. It was till completely full. He broke off a match and stared at it, then walked back over to his bed and sat down. He picked up the joint in his other hand and looked at it, not believing he was doing this. He shuddered again and placed the end in the corner of his mouth. He struck the match on the head of his bed and stared at the flame.

_Ring!_

The phone began ringing at that exact moment.

"Shit," Lance swore. Let someone else pick it up. He began bringing the flame closer to the joint.

_Ring!_

The flame was approaching.

_Ring!_

Was he really doing this?

_Ring!_

"Lance?"

The paper surrounding the pot inside began to become singed.

"Lance, I'm busy, pick up the phone."

Lance swore again at the sound of his mother's voice. He was so close. He spat out the joint onto his bed and picked up the phone in his room.

"Yeah?" he barked into the phone. He was in no mood for some stupid sales call.

"Lance, put down the match." The voice on the other end said.

"What?" He said. He looked down to see that he was still holding the lit match in his hand. "What the…" he muttered. "How did you know I was holding a--." He said back into the phone.

"Fine. If you won't do it, we will. This is the wrong choice, Lance." The voice rebuked him like an angry parent to a disobedient child. Suddenly, a sharp, cold gust of wind erupted in his room.

"Whoa!" Lance cried out in alarm. He wrapped his arms around his head to protect it from the objects whirling around the room in the wind. Just as quickly as it started, the wind ceased to exist. Lance cautiously lowered his arms to see his room completely destroyed, objects blown all over the place. His eyes landed on the match still in his hand. Not only had the fire been put out, but the match was snapped in half. He cautiously raised the phone back to his ear, still staring at the match. "How did you do--." He started.

"We have are ways, Lance. We couldn't allow you to smoke that drug. You're too valuable to us. Allow me to explain. We are a group of free lance explorers, taking on jobs police can't handle or criminals too dangerous. And we want you."

**Ending note:** wow, only one day to write this one. I think it came out pretty good. Especially Lance's crisis scene. Anyway, you know the drill. Read, review, and spread the news. I can't do this without you guys. The next chapter of Explore the Heart is coming soon. This one only took one day, but I'm still settling for a two week deadline. Stay Tuned!


	3. Chapter 3: Exploration

**Author's note: **Here's where things start getting interesting! This chapter marks the true beginning of Explore the Heart. Enjoy and review! I know that this chapter is late, but blame school. It's getting all bitchy. Oops! Am I allowed to say that in a T rated story?

/

Chapter 3: Exploration

Luke leaned back in his seat and glared at Lance. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this," he growled, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Lance leaned forward and smiled.

"I didn't. Serena did." He said, turning to look at her. She was staring out of the window of the bus they were on, frowning at the passing city. She turned to return Lance's look, then continued looking out the window. Lance had told both of them about the phone call he had received last night. He had left out the part about the joint. He couldn't tell them how close he had come to taking the plunge. It didn't matter anyway. He had found the joint and after some serious thinking, had flushed it down the bathroom toilet. They were on a bus now, headed toward the outer city. The voice on the other end of the phone had told him an address to go to if he wanted to learn more. After telling Luke and Serena about the call, Serena had instantly wanted to find out more. She volunteered to come with Lance to the address, and had managed, after much persuasion, to convince Luke to come with them. Lance was jerked out of his memories as the bus came to a halt. The Makuhita driving turned around in his seat and yelled,

"Last stop! Everybody off." Lance got up and stretched, they had been sitting for almost an hour. Serena sighed, and slowly stood up. Along with Luke, they walked down the steps of the bus and looked around. They were in a rundown part of the city. Graffiti was everywhere, and stray bits of trash blew around in the gentle breeze blowing. Luke's expression grew hard as he looked at the desolation around them. He turned to Lance and spat out,

"Well I hope you're happy, Lance. You've just brought us to the middle of the ghetto. Bravo." He clapped slowly and sarcastically, the sound ringing out through the silent street. A group of Mightyenas looked up at the noise and growled, ducking into an alley. Lance glanced around and brought out the piece of paper he had the address written on. Then he looked at the building they were in front of and shook his head.

"The address they gave me isn't until further on," he said, looking at Luke. "We better start walking." He turned his head to look at Serena and frowned. She stood hunched, hugging herself. She was looking around nervously, her gaze darting from one thing to the next, never stopping. "You okay, Serena?" he asked in concern.

"I'm fine." She snapped, glaring at him. All the tension went out of her body and she sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap." She said, "You know I'm a Gardevoir, I can sense emotions around us. It's just that all I can sense here is hate and… and fear." She said, trembling. Lance placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes.

"This isn't a good part of town. Of course there are going to be emotions like that. But let's keep moving. We're here for you, Serena." She looked back at him, then over to Luke. She closed her eyes and sighed. She nodded and opened her eyes again.

"Come on," Lance said, jerking his head in the direction they needed to go, and they started walking.

After a while of walking, Lance slowed down and pulled out the address sheet again. He glanced at the building in front of them's address and said "We're close." They continued slowly down the road. They came to a stop in front of a closed down shop. Lance looked at the piece of paper one last time and pocketed it. "This is it, but I don't get it how we get in." The store was closed down, all of the windows boarded up. Spray painted across the front door in white was a sign that read 'closed' in big letters. Trash littered the entire front of the store.

"Maybe this is just an outer face, you said it was a secret organization and everything," Luke said, eyeing the store in distaste. He stepped forward and raised his hand to knock on the door. As he brought it down, his hand passed through the door and disappeared. "Whoa," he yelled, jerking his hand back. He turned to look at Lance and Serena, who were both just as surprised. He cautiously raised his paw again, and reached out. It passed through again, and with a nervous swallow, he stepped forward and disappeared.

"Luke!" Lance yelled, he ran forward and hesitated only briefly before diving through the storefront after him. Serena gasped at both of their disappearances. She slowly walked forward and placed her hand on the door. She gently pressed and it went through. She pushed it farther in and flinched when she felt something on the other side. There was a sudden jerk, and with a squeak of fear, she was pulled in. She broke through the illusion of the store and was slammed against a wall. She whipped her hand out of her captor's and spun around to face them, eyes glowing with psychic energy. She froze when she saw Luke standing across from her, looking surprised.

"Serena! When you touched me through the wall, I thought you were someone else. Sorry about smashing you against the wall." He said meekly. Serena let out a sigh of relief and released the built up psychic energy.

"It's okay. Where's Lance?" she asked, looking around. She noted with surprise that they were in what looked like an elevator, a very fancy one with wood paneling and a carpeted floor. It looked very out of place, considering what had been on the other side of the doors.

"I'm right here, God that hurt." Serena looked behind Luke to see Lance lying on his back rubbing his head.

"He didn't know we'd be coming into such a small space, and after diving in after me like the idiot he is sometimes, he slammed his head against the wall." Luke said staring at Lance in annoyance. "Almost hit me too." Serena laughed and bent over to look at him, but her head snapped up as the elevator doors slammed closed.

"No!" Luke yelled, leaping forward to bang on the sealed doors with his fist. Impervious to his beatings, the elevator began to descend into the ground. Luke then reeled backwards, clutching at his head. He cried out in pain, and Lance jumped up to catch him as he fell, wincing in discomfort as he felt a pain in his already sore head. The pain magnified as he held Luke, still clutching his head. Just as Lance thought he wouldn't be able to stand the pain anymore, the pain left to be replaced with a voice inside his head.

_I apologize for your friend's condition. Being a fighting type, my psychic probe must cause him considerable discomfort._

"Discomfort? That's a nice way of putting it." Luke growled, surprising Lance by showing he could hear the voice too. "Who are you anyway?"

_I am Damien. I was the one who summoned you Lance. You will learn more soon, but until then please restrain your friend from beating on my elevator._

Serena repressed a laugh at that last remark, and Lance sighed in relief as the pressure in his head from the voice's probe left. Luke slowly stood up from Lance's arms, rubbing his temple. He walked to the wall of the elevator then spun around and exploded,

"Who the hell was that? What kind of right do they think they have, invading our minds like that? I swear, if they actually read our minds," he spun around and kicked the wall of the elevator in anger. He winced, and clutched his head as the voice returned.

_What did I say about you and the elevator?_

Luke gestured at the roof of the elevator with a "see?" expression on his face, then he leaned against the wall, glaring across the elevator. Lance locked eyes with Serena and raised his eyebrows, and then he sighed and leaned against his own wall as the elevator sank lower into the ground.

/

Lance looked up as the elevator slid to a stop. Once it had stopped moving, he looked at Luke and Serena, and then stepped over to the doors. With a soft _ding_ the doors slid open. Looking out, Lance saw a hallway stretching into the distance. It was completely different from the ornate elevator they were in; it looked like it had been carved from stone with cinderblocks painted for walls. There was also someone waiting in the hall. Right by the elevator was a Blaziken, he was leaning against the wall and had his eyes closed, looking at the ground. At the sound of the elevator arriving, he looked up and rolled eyes up at the sight of them standing there. He gave a long sigh and stood up, waving for them to come out.

"Welcome to the B.E.I., the Bureau of Exploration and Investigation. Have a button." The Blaziken said in a bored voice, pulling a plastic button out of his pocket. Lance took it from his outstretched hand and read 'Have a job you can't handle? Call the B.E.I.! We're sure to get it done or your money back!' Lance looked up at the Blaziken in disbelief. This was what he had been called for? Some retarded attempt at the F.B.I.?

"I'm Ian, I'll be your guide here, I guess," the Blaziken muttered. He turned and gestured over his shoulder for them to follow him. Lance started to follow but got held back by Luke's paw on his shoulder. Luke leaned down and said in Lance's ear,

"Lance, is this what you brought us here for? Some stupid teenager working at a job they obviously hate?"

"Just follow the guy. That Damien guy who blasted our heads has to be down here somewhere." Lance replied. He turned his head to look at Luke who released his shoulder. He turned to look at Serena who nodded.

"Hey, you guys coming or what?" Ian called back to them. Lance jogged to catch up to him with Luke and Serena behind him. They walked down the hall in silence. Lance looked around as they walked, but there was nothing to see. The floor was smoothed over stone, stained from years of footprints. The walls were just cinderblocks painted varying shades of blue and purple. Set into the roof were fluorescent lights, which filled the hall with a bright glow. They turned around a corner and the hall stopped in front of them. A polished wooden door was set in the wall in front of them. Ian stepped forward and gripped the handle. He looked over his shoulder and grinned.

"This is where the fun begins," He flung the door wide and they all stepped through. Serena stared around her in amazement as they were bombarded with a wall of sound. They were in a huge atrium-like room that rose so high she couldn't see the top. The wide floor was crammed full of desks, each with a Pokemon behind it working furiously on their computers. Lining the walls were huge television screens displaying various things. Some displayed maps of the city with certain roads highlighted, some were displaying readouts of computer data, others the local news. Intercoms were above the screens, also circling the room. Each of them was blaring out messages, individual ones lost in the turmoil of sound. Above all the confusion, Pidgeys and Starlys were flying back and forth, every now and then diving toward a desk to deliver a message they had tied to their legs. Luke and Lance were just as stunned as Serena was, trying to soak everything that was happening at once. Then one of the Pidgeys darted down to Ian and landed on the elbow he offered.

"Hey Ian. Good to see you again. Didn't believe it when Damien said you were back. I got a message here from the Big Cheese himself." The Pidgey said quickly, his head darting around to look at everything that was happening. Ian carefully untied the string keeping the note to the Pidgey's leg and took the message off. He unfolded it and began reading. His expression hardened as he read it and Serena heard him mutter under his breath,

"Damn you, old man." He folded up the note again and stuck it into his pocket. He turned to look at the Pidgey who was still perched on his elbow. "Good work Lockheed. See you." Lockheed nodded once then took off into flight, joining the stream of birds flying back and forth. Ian stood still for a second with his eyes closed, breathing slowly. Serena stared at him in concern and gently reached forward to touch him on the elbow.

"Are you okay, Ian? What did that note say?" she asked gently.

"I'm fine. Just follow me." Ian's eyes flicked open and he jerked his arm away from her touch. Serena recoiled and stepped back to stand with Luke and Lance. He turned his head and began walking into the midst of the busy chaos. They walked through alleys of desks with wide assortments of Pokemon working at each of them. As they came nearer to the far wall, the desks receded in number, but the Pidgeys and Starlys only increased in number, diving incessantly toward a single desk set against the wall. A Masquerain hovered in the air behind the desk, speaking rapidly to each bird that landed by her with a message. As the Ian approached with the rest of the group behind him, she looked up and smiled.

"Ian! You finally came back! Damien said he was expecting you, but I never believed-," The Masquerain was cut off in mid-sentence by Ian.

"Good to see you too, Cynthia. The old man wasn't lying, he is expecting me. We have business to discuss." He subtly nodded towards Lance. Cynthia leaned to the side to see behind Ian and gasped.

"Lance! You came! Hi, you probably don't know me, but I'm Damien's secretary. Oh, but you probably don't know who Damien is either! He's-,"

"Cynthia. Calm down." Ian said, looking at her meaningfully.

"Sorry!" she said, ducking her head. "I'll just tell Damien you're here." As she leaned down to speak into an intercom on her desk, Lance's thoughts raced. She obviously knew who he was, but who were all these people? And what had that note Ian had gotten said? Why was everybody acting as if Ian had been gone for forever, was he a member of this place? Something was said through the intercom, and Cynthia looked up to nod at Ian. He stepped forward to open the door that was next to the Masquerain's desk and stepped through. Lance and the others started to follow him. As Lance walked by Cynthia, she whispered "Sorry about the wind last night." Lance looked down at her in confusion.

"What?"

"The wind in your room, when we called you." She looked up at him. Lance stared at her.

"That was you?" She nodded and gave a slight smile.

"You'd better get going you know." She said, nodding towards the open door. Lance gave one last look at her, then nodded and stepped through the door. He came out into an elaborate office, with a large desk serving as the center piece. Sitting behind the desk was an Alakazam, an old one. He had a beard to accompany his long moustache and his golden hair was graying. The leather armor he wore on his upper torso was worn and had many scratches on it. He smiled gently at Lance, and he couldn't help but think of an old grandpa at the sight. Leaning against a wall next to the desk was a Nidoking. He had his arms crossed in front of his muscular chest, and he stared at Lance, scrutinizing him. He was very muscular, and the horn on his head was long and wide. The teeth that poked out above his lips looked razor sharp; they matched the claws on his hands. As Serena and Luke came in behind Lance, he snorted and turned his head away. Ian closed the door behind them and walked over to stand by the Nidoking. The Alakazam spoke then.

"Welcome. I am Damien, the one who called you last night, Lance." He slowly surveyed Serena and Luke. "I did not expect you to bring friends, but I'm sure they are just as willing as you." He said. It was then that Luke stormed forward to the desk. He slammed one his hands palm down on the desk and glared at the Alakazam.

"So it was you who ambushed us in that elevator. What right do you have to read our minds like that? What right do you have to take away whatever is sacred to us?" he yelled. In his anger he raised one paw threateningly, but then he was flung backward as something connected with him in the stomach. He skidded to a stop by Serena who dropped own to help him up. She looked up to see that Ian had been the cause. He was standing by the desk with one of his legs still outstretched from kicking Luke. He gave a cocky smile.

"Whoa there, cowboy. I know Damien might be _inconsiderate_ sometimes with his mind probes, but he's just an old man! Lay off!" the way he said inconsiderate hinted that he had had to deal with mind probes himself too. As Serena helped Luke up, she wondered why he was so upset about this mind reading thing. As she wondered about it, she realized that he had had his first date with Shannon last night, but that wouldn't matter that much to him unless- "Oh Luke, what did you do last night?" she whispered to herself in horror. Luke stood up angrily and started to walk toward Ian but was stopped as a red outline of energy appeared around him. Serena looked to see that Damien's eyes were glowing the same shade of red.

"Ian, I am perfectly capable of defending myself." Damien said. He turned his red gaze to Luke then. "And I never read anybody's thoughts. I would never stoop that low." Luke growled slightly, and then nodded. Damien's eyes reverted to their normal color and Luke was released. He took a step backward to steady himself and then he crossed his arms angrily in front of his chest. The Nidoking snorted again at this display. He shook his head and said,

"I don't get why you're doing this, Damien. They're obviously not cut out for this." He had a deep, rumbling voice that was almost impossible to understand due to a thick accent. Damien sighed and responded.

"Just give them a simple chance Harry. We'll see if they are or aren't ready." He looked at them again. "Allow me to introduce ourselves. I am Damien, as you already know. I am the head of the B.E.I. which you saw outside. This is Harry, my trusted second in command." He indicated the Nidoking who raised one claw in acknowledgement. "You already know Ian, I presume." Damien continued, nodding towards the tall Blaziken. Ian lifted a hand and gave a cocky salute. "Ian is one of the highest ranking members of this organization." Ian waved one hand at Damien in mock embarrassment.

"You're too kind old man." Damien cocked one eyebrow at Ian.

"Although he should learn to know his place." Damien said, turning back to look at the group. "Now, on to why you're here," he said, surveying each of them. "The B.E.I. is a covert operation dedicated to helping the police in their fight against crime in this city. We take jobs that they are either too busy to take or can't handle by themselves. We have some of the most experienced fighters in the city under our command. However, we also have a special branch that takes mission requests from citizens who would rather come to us than the police. Now, we have been observing you, Lance. You seem to employ the talents that are needed most for a job like this. We have brought you here to ask if you are at all interested to join our force. While I did not expect you to bring your friends along, if they were loyal and brave enough to come with you, then they have a place with us too." Damien finished and clasped his hands on top of his desk, staring at Lance. Lance's mind was reeling. He had been invited to join some secret police force? They wanted _him?_ Furthermore, they were ready to take in Luke and Serena too? Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he turned and looked at Luke and Serena.

"What do you guys think?" he asked. Luke raised one eyebrow and said,

"What's there to think about? You mean you're actually thinking about doing this? We're just kids, Lance! We can't go out and help the police do their job!" he stared at Lance in disbelief. Lance looked at Serena.

"What do you think Serena?" Serena looked down at the ground. She traced a swirl pattern on the floor with one foot while she thought it over. She sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess it depends on what you want to do, Lance. I'll stand by you no matter what you choose." She looked up and smiled at him. Lance smiled back, but had to turn his head as the feelings from last night he found about her welled up inside of him.

"Damn," he whispered, staring at the ground as he fought to resist the feelings he had for her. He looked up at Damien. Now the entire burden was on him to decide. He took a deep breath and gave his answer. "I guess I'll try it out." He said. Behind him, he heard Luke make a sound of anger. He turned to look at him. Luke glared at him and said,

"Are you serious? You're going to try to 'save the city'? You're not some hero Lance, you can't do this!" He looked at Serena. "And you're going to do this with him? God, you two are insane. I'm not gonna have anything to do with this." And with that, he turned around and opened the door. He stormed through it and slammed it behind him. The office was silent as the bang of the door faded away. Then Ian spoke.

"Little bitch, he doesn't know what he's missing. I never liked the son of a gun anyway." He said angrily. He turned to Damien. "What, so now they're members? Just like that?" Damien calmly looked up at Ian and said,

"Yes, Ian. They are members of us now." Ian gave a snort worthy of Harry himself and crossed his arms angrily.

"Great, more newbies." He spat, shaking his head. Harry chuckled softly and stood up. He playfully punched Ian in the arm, who winced in pain.

"Come on Ian, you were a newbie yourself not that long ago. Like Damien said, give 'em a chance." He said. He walked over to Lance and Serena and took their hands in both of his. "Welcome aboard the team." He said warmly, shaking their hands vigorously. When he finally let go, Lance felt as if his hand had just been crushed. He shook it slightly to restore the feeling and looked up at the Nidoking.

"Thanks. I'm sorry about Luke; I honestly thought he would stay. I never expected him to leave like that." He said, and it was true. He thought that Luke would have stayed with them. But Serena had stayed, and that at least counted for something. Damien stared at the door Luke had stormed through and said,

"The fault is mine. I never should have mind probed you like that. But on to more important matters. Before you can truly become a member of the B.E.I., we have to test you and Serena's abilities. We have a relatively simple job that we want you to take. All it is is to make sure that a shipment of goods makes it way to the warehouse where it will be stored." He looked at both of them. "Do you accept this mission?" Lance looked at Serena, who nodded. He looked back to Damien.

"Sounds easy enough. But what happens when our families realize we've been gone for a long time? What then? Do we tell them about this place, or…." Lance trailed off and stared at Damien questioningly. Damien laughed and replied,

"They won't, of course. We already have that covered." He pushed a button on his desk and said into a small speaker, "Send in the replacements, Cynthia."

"Right away sir!" came the reply from the Masquerain outside. The door opened and two pink blobs of what looked like jelly with faces slid in. Damien came out from around his desk and said,

"These are Dittos. They will be your replacements while you are on any mission that will take long enough for your absence to be noticed. Dittos, these are your subjects. Transform." The Dittos began to writhe, and Serena stared in amazement as they began to grow and reshape. The one in front of her grew to her height and stopped. Slender arms sprouted from where her shoulders would be. The lower half of the body reshaped to form a long white dress, a mirror of her own. The head began to reshape into a circle of green hair. Ruby eyes flicked open and blinked once, looking around their surroundings. A mouth opened up in the bottom of the head and smiled. The transformation was ended as the emotion sensing horns on her chest and back sprouted outward. Serena smiled in amazement as she stared at the perfect copy of herself that stood across from her. She slowly walked in a circle around it and said,

"Wow, this is amazing! A perfect copy!" She laughed when the Ditto in the form of her replied in a perfect imitation of her voice,

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself." Serena looked over to Lance and laughed again as she beheld two identical Lances staring at each other. Damien laughed and said,

"I reacted in exactly the same way the first time I was duplicated. Now, here is what you must do on this mission…."

/

The Delibird sighed and slumped lower. He was on watch duty at the ware house where a new shipment was expected soon. He had been here for hours, it was around midnight now. He looked around; no one was even in sight. Maybe would go visit his pal at the next warehouse over- there was a sudden hissing sound, a flash of pain, and then he fell to the ground, unmoving. The Arbok released his fangs from the dead Delibird's neck, venom still dripping from the hollow daggers. He licked his lips to be rid of the blood lingering on them and looked around. No one had heard the brief scuffle. He gave a satisfied hiss and slithered into the soon to be occupied warehouse to wait. And wait. And wait. As long as it took for the shipment to arrive.

**Ending note: **Uh oh! Foreshadowing! And I really have no idea where that thing with Luke and Shannon came from, crap. Now I'm gonna have to find some way to develop it into something. I really need suggestions for this next chapter, so please review and gimme ideas! I know this chapter was late, but don't blame me, I had serious operation! Not really, I was too busy playing Playstation. Not really, I was too busy staring at my bedroom wall. Yes, _really._ Expect the next chapter soon!


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